Väyrynen in Paris: Development policy must return to the broad view created in Rio
Press release 157/2011
26 May 2011
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen delivered the address for Finland at the OECD 50th Anniversary Meeting on 26 May. The central theme of the talk was the new development policy emphasizing the holistic nature and coherence of activities. Väyrynen stated that an even broader view is needed, one that would also include the development of industrialized countries:
“To use the words of the Rio Environment and Development Conference of 1992: we still have unsustainable production and consumption models that are now spreading to developing countries. On the other hand, in consequence of globalization, unemployment is growing and poverty is increasing in industrialized countries, too.
Humankind faces difficult challenges. At the same time, control of development is ever more difficult at the global, regional and national levels. The sustainability of political systems is being tested. In Europe, too, there have been political upheavals both in countries struggling with debt problems and in countries helping them – such as Finland.”
In his speech, Minister Väyrynen told of his initiative, presented in 2009, for a sustainable development partnership between the EU and the United States. As both the EU development ministers and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of the United States, who chaired the meeting in Paris, approved the initiative, agreement on it could be reached at the Summit held at the end of that year. The common goals of the partnership are effective measures to reduce poverty and promotion of sustainable development the world over.
Väyrynen also mentioned his initiative for the creation of an global sustainable development strategy for the EU.
“In fact, all central global development policy actors should compile their own global strategies that could be fit together for a comprehensive humanity policy,” Väyrynen continued.
In his speech, Väyrynen said that his 41-year career in the Finnish Parliament had just ended and also that his career as a minister, lasting more than 16 years, would soon be ending. Secretary of State Clinton congratulated Väyrynen on his long ministerial career, extending over five decades, saying that the OECD 50th Anniversary Meeting is a suitable place to end it.
The OECD 50th Anniversary Meeting took place in Paris on 24–26 May under the theme “Better Policies for Better Lives”. The Meeting approved a new development policy for the organization, the OECD Green Growth Strategy, and the OECD’s organizational vision.
Additional information: Katri Kulmuni, Press Attaché to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, mobile tel. +358 400 739 824 and Counsellor Vesa Hölttä, Unit for the EU’s Trade Policy and Economic Relations, mobile tel. +358 40 527 4903